The NIH-EPA Chemical Information System, comprising 17 different components such as spectral data and bibliographic data bases, is under systematic development in a project that involves the collaborative efforts of 41 different groups in the U.S., Europe and Japan. Components of this system include a mass spectral search system, a carbon-13 nmr spectral search system, nmr and crystallography bibliographic search systems, a structure search program, searchable data bases of x-ray diffraction data for crystals and for powders, a searchable data base of water pollutant data and a data base of chemical compounds cited in the Federal Register. The entire system is being delivered to members of the international scientific community via networked computers in the private sector. All who use the system do so on a fee-for-service basis.